King Ranch Chicken

Large Yellow Onion
Green Bell Pepper
Red Bell Pepper
three medium size jalapenos (optional)
Three Tbsp crushed garlic
Can of chopped black olives (2 4 oz cans)
2-3 5 oz chicken breasts, cooked and diced or shredded
Can Cream of Mushroom
Can Cream of Chicken
Can of diced roasted tomatoes
Can of Rotel
8-12 oz of shredded cheddar
6-8 oz sour cream
Bunch of cilantro
Package of tortillas (flour or corn) -or- Bag of Tortilla Chips

Start by dicing onion, bell peppers, and jalapenos (remove seeds from jalapenos). In a large pot, combine the veggies in EVOO and turn on to medium heat and stir every few minutes to cook evenly. Once onions are transculent, add the garlic. Stir a few minutes and then add the cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, sour cream, chicken breast and tomatoes. Let simmer and stir until mixture is even. Add half of cilantro in and cover with lid. Preheat oven to 400. Take a 9 x 13 casserole dish and piece tortillas or break tortilla chips. Layer first with the tortillas or tortilla chips so the bottom is completely covered. Then ladle chicken mixture to cover the tortillas, and then sprinkle shredded cheese. Repeat these steps until you reach about half an inch from rim of casserole dish. It should be 3-4 times you repeat the steps. On the top and last layer of shredded cheese, sprinkle last bit of cilantro. Bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Ovens vary and my oven is very old so it may only take 10-12 minutes. Let stand for about 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Spicy Salsa

5 roma tomatoes
10 green onion stalks
2 fresh jalapenos
1 poblano pepper
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp hot sauce (crystal's works)
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Roast the tomatoes and peppers until skins break away and brown. Cut veggies until diced pieces for food processor/blender. In pulses, blend the tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, and green onions to desired consistency. Pour into mixing bowl and mix in the lime juice, hot sauce, pepper, garlic powder, and salt.

Jalapeno Dip

So, I have gotten to where I have acquired a green thumb when it comes to cooking. Sometimes I get really bored when David leaves for work. I wanted to dabble into various things to experiment and for us to try new cuisines or try new dishes with familiar ingredients.

This first one is a jalapeno dip similar to the one at Chuy's. It may not be exact, but really close.

1 bunch cilantro, washed
¼ cup canned jalapenos with a little juice (I sometimes sub for fresh)
2 packages Ranch Dip mix
½ cup buttermilk ( I added 1 tbsp of lemon juice to regular milk)
3 cloves garlic
1 cup tomatillo sauce (salsa verde)
2 c sour cream
2 c mayonnaise
4 roma tomatoes

I like to roast the tomatoes, jalapenos and tomatillos (if i sub for the salsa verde) until skins are breaking and the veggies are browning. Once cooled off, I cut the veggies into small enough pieces so they aren't too chunky and also easy to blend in the food processer/blender
Blend following ingredients in blender or food processor: cilantro, jalapenos, Ranch dip mix, buttermilk, garlic and salsa verde

Add mayonnaise and sour cream and blend again.

 

This is great with chips or taquitos. I like to make this if friends are coming over.

**if you don't have buttermilk, use equivalent amount of milk + tsbp vinegar or lemon juice. let stand for 10 minutes before mixing in recipe